“The guys I fought wanted to beat me up as bad as they could, so I couldn’t feel sorry when I beat them. I never apologized for winning.”
Joe Louis – World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
A few years ago, for some strange reason, I thought about the guys I once trained with in the practice room. I thought about the fact that some of them got beaten on every day and never became champions. At first it was kind of a sad thought. Some of them worked hard, but they were working on the wrong things. They were pumping iron all the time. Or running all the time, when they should have been spending more time on the mat and more time doing functional exercises.
Then I thought about the times in college when I had to take a break from hard wrestling practice because of an injury. On the first day back to practice (usually when the injury was not completely healed), when I was tentative and unsure as to whether I could safely train, I never worked out with a single guy who gave a damn. Injured or not, healthy or recovering,
they wrestled me the same as they would any other time. If I was healthy enough and confident enough to practice, then I was open-season.
That is the way it is in combat sports – and in LIFE. Sure, you can go ahead and feel sorry for your opponent or practice partner. But when the roles are reversed, and the other guy has the opportunity to wield the upper hand, I’ll bet he won’t feel sorry for you. So give LIFE everything you have, every single time and let the chips fall where they may.
And when you achieve your goals and dreams – never apologize for your success. You earned it!